Nate Silver

A master of statistical analysis, Silver first became popular thanks to his groundbreaking work in baseball's sabermetrics community (think Jonah Hill in Moneyball). His fame skyrocketed in 2008, however, when his site — Fivethirtyeight.com — posted stats-based presidential-election predictions that correctly called 49 out of 50 states. In 2012, when he did the same as an employee of the New York Times, he went 50-for-50. Soon after, the openly gay Silver was named Out magazine's person of the year, certifying him as a hero in the LGBT and geek communities. He left the Times for ESPN, where he's currently the editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight.